Day: October 26, 2016

What Would a Co-Worker Who Doesn’t LIke You Say About You? | No BS Job Search Advice Radio

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer the tough interview question, “What would a co-worker who doesn’t like you say about you?”

 

[spp-transcript]

Let’s talk about 1 of those tough interview questions that’s designed to blindside you.  This is not 1 of those hedge fund questions that firms ask.  You know, brainteasers.  This is just 1 of those standard interview questions that shows up from time to time and I want to make sure you’re prepared for it. Here’s the question:

“How would someone who doesn’t like you describe you?”

Boing!

For most people, that is a shocker question.

  1.  It’s hard of the think of people not liking you in the workplace.
  2. How do you explain that to the interviewer?
  3. You cannot use the pat answer (Everyone likes me.  There is never a problem with any of my coworkers.)

There is always someone who will have had a disagreement with you. Here’s a way to play it, and it can be done in more than one direction.

For example,  you are working with someone who is somewhat analytical.  You can say, “That’s a great question!  I haven’t really thought of that!” (Remember, interviewing can be an acting job as part of answering questions). So you want to appear as though  you have been taken off guard even though you have a way of answering the question.

So, again, you start off by saying, “That’s a great question!  I ever really thought of that!”   Then you take a moment  and continue by saying, “I know with a coworker who is somewhat analytical  and wants to look at a problem from a lot of corrections, they may find it uncomfortable to deal with someone like me who likes to charge right in and is able to figure things out on the fly,, to be able to move things along.” That’s a great answer in a sales role.

OR

You can also say, “For those who like the charge right in, I’d like to look at a problem from a few different directions  to ensure that we don’t unintentionally cause harm.  Along the way or do things that would be completely ineffectual.  I would rather take a moment to evaluate things before taking action.  After all, all of us are time stressed..  So I would rather do something one time extremely well and repeatedly do things to correct mistakes.”

Again, you can answer the question in both directions, but the idea is to never diminish the question By saying, “I have never had a problem with anyone at work.” No one will believe it,, they will just think you’re lying to them and you’ll hurt yourself on the interview.  On the other hand, if you acknowledge difference  and explain how you function, that can go a long way toward winning the job.

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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

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Should I Hide My Dates on Employment?

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[svp]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ZOLlPujiQ[/svp]
I recorded the answer earlier but the audio didn’t work. Since, I lost the original question I’m working from memory. The follow-up to the question involve the individual experiencing anxiety and leaving jobs for that reason.

 

[spp-transcript]

Should I hide my dates of employment?

I misplaced the original email I received but, as I recall, this person seems to be a student and would take on jobs while they were in school And would quit when they start to feel anxiety. “Too much on their plate,” is how I tend to interpret anxiety at this stage in life. I divided the question into 2 parts: The 1st 1 is, “should I hide my dates of employment.”A good or average interviewer is going to think that (1) You are hiding something (They are right.  You are hiding something) and (2) they are going to follow up by asking you the actual dates.

Thus, you are better served by providing the actual dates and offering explanations for why you left.  For example,you might list all the firms that you work for ( this assumes that this is while you’re in school), listing all the dates that you were employed in these various jobs, Then underneath it say something to the effect of, “I would leave when my school requirements Became more of a priority. Rather than do my job halfway and get mediocre grades, I focused on school but needed to earn a living so I would work and quit when my schedule became too overwhelming.”

That becomes an easy way that you can explain it. If my memory is right about this anxiety issue, the more important thing for you is not interviewing for jobs with the work will make you anxious. How do you do that? There are a number of ways.

Do informational interviews about the field of work to find out that this is something that can provoke you. You don’t need to have anxiety.  When I think of anxiety I think of “overload.” Your circuits are fried. Rather than putting too much stress on the system, you modulate the stress.

Now, to be clear, I don’t think it’s possible to have a stress free life. However, what you can do is work in professions that interest you, motivate you, cause you to get excited about going to work and that usually is the kind of stress that people can handle. A lot of organizations will ask you to expand from your comfort zone which is a good thing.  You will learn to handle more and do more things.   You don’t want to spend the next 40 years of your life doing the same thing, do you? Of course, not!  You’ll learn to handle more and, thus, find that There is things that cause you anxiety may dissipate.

Get supports in place, whether it’s a counselor, a coach and/or a therapist so you have a way of sorting things through as things come up for you. After all, life is not without challenge.  In that challenge, you are likely to feel some anxiousness. As a result, is it better to have someone that you are working with than not.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn 

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle nmfor $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”